Develop Bugs

[Q] Need advice on updating to Lollipop

I currently have a T-Mobile HTC One M8.
I am running 4.4.4 with Sense 6.0
It is rooted, custom recovery (TWRP), S-OFF, with Xposed Framework installed.
I know this has been asked and discussed a million times in bits and pieces around XDA and the internet in general, but I am still having trouble finding one source with a definitive answer as to the steps I should follow.
I would like to update to Android Lollipop 5.0 (5.0.1)
- The OTA that has shown up on my phone as of now is Software Update: 4.20.531.4 (632.7 MB). I am not sure if there is already another one that would follow this one if I were able to successfully update to this version.
With that being said, I did not make a backup of my stock rom, nor recovery.
I am assuming that the process I need to take is this (to return my device to stock):
1) Uninstall XPOSED Modules and XPOSED Framework
2) Flash a STOCK ROM via custom recovery (TWRP)
3) Flash a STOCK RECOVERY via custom recovery (TWRP)
- Is this correct?
- If so, can someone provide me a link to the STOCK ROM and STOCK RECOVERY that I would need?
- If not, what are the steps I should follow?
Then what do I need to do to update my device to Lollipop?
Do I just refresh and check the software update in the ABOUT section of settings and update it as an OTA?
Can I skip all of these steps and just flash a factory LOLLIPOP IMAGE and RECOVERY via ADB with my device in it's current state?
Thank you in advance to anyone who will help me out
-----
UPDATE...
-----
*** I finally updated to Android Lollipop 5.0 (5.0.1)
This is what I did:
* I kept my device plugged into my computer this entire time
1) Download this STOCK ROM zip (TMOUS-M8-3.32.531.2-Stock-TWRP.zip)
2) Download this STOCK RECOVERY img (Tmo-M8-3.32.531.2-recovery.img)
3) Download this OTA zip (OTA-3.32.531.2 to 4.20.531.4)
4) Backup CURRENT ROM via TWRP (just in case)
5) Extract the files from STOCK ROM zip and place them in a folder named STOCK ROM
6) Move the STOCK ROM folder to your device under |sdcard / TWRP / BACKUPS / "random numbers & letters" / Place the folder here|, next to your CURRENT ROM backup
7) Move the OTA zip to your device under |sdcard / Download|
8) Move the STOCK RECOVERY img to whatever folder you have ADB (fastboot) setup in, on your computer
9) Reboot into TWRP, click restore, select STOCK ROM, then swipe to restore
10) After it finishes restoring, do not reboot. Just click back until you can select reboot, then select to reboot bootloader
11) Once it reboots to the bootloader and you are at the screen where it says FASTBOOT, open ADB (fastboot) command prompt and flash the STOCK RECOVERY img by typing: fastboot flash recovery "name of recovery".img
12) Once that has completed, reboot the device
13) Once the device has rebooted open ADB (fastboot) command prompt again and reboot into recovery by typing: adb reboot recovery
14) For me, it rebooted to a black screen, then turned into a black screen with a warning triangle, then I hit the volume buttons a few times as well as the power button and then it loaded up the recovery options (sounds weird, but this is how it happened for me)
15) Once the options appear, use the volume and power buttons to select apply from phone storage, then locate the OTA zip file that you moved into the Download folder, select it and hit the power button to apply it
16) Let it run and apply the update, then follow the instructions at the end to reboot the phone
17) Now you will have Android Lollipop 5.0 (5.0.1) on your device
*** When you apply the OTA zip, it will sit at "patching system files" for quite a while, so don't worry. Applying the OTA took around 15 minutes to complete for me
*** I never wiped data or cache or anything like that during this entire process. All my apps, settings, etc... remained how I had them before. I didn't have to set anything up after the final reboot. Everything was just like I had had it on my CURRENT ROM
*** I never uninstalled XPOSED Modules or XPOSED Framework, or unrooted the device. I simply did all the steps I just listed. Nothing else.
*** Of course after completion of this update process you will lose root, and would have to re-root and re-install XPOSED (which is possible now that XPOSED is compatible with Lollipop)

I would also like to know...

It's somewhat old, but the instructions using Method #1 more or less apply. Just make sure that when/if you reflash TWRP that you flash 2.8.5. Nothing older.
http://venomroms.com/viperonem8_3-0-0-requirements/

This is of course irrelevant to the OP, but for anyone who's still considering the move, my advice would be not to "update". I see absolutely no advantage of Lollipop in comparison to KitKat, at least as long as stock Sense 6 phones are concerned.
I have a completely stock, unrooted (although not SIM-locked) HTC One M8. A few weeks ago the OTA came and I "updated". Now, my phone worked perfectly before: fast, on battery for more than 2 days, etc. After the "update" there where problems after problems after problems. The keyboard lags, the battery life is way worse, etc. Yes, some of the problems can be overcome. But in my opinion if you just want a working phone, this "update" is simply not worth your time.

unifex_ said:
This is of course irrelevant to the OP, but for anyone who's still considering the move, my advice would be not to "update". I see absolutely no advantage of Lollipop in comparison to KitKat, at least as long as stock Sense 6 phones are concerned.
I have a completely stock, unrooted (although not SIM-locked) HTC One M8. A few weeks ago the OTA came and I "updated". Now, my phone worked perfectly before: fast, on battery for more than 2 days, etc. After the "update" there where problems after problems after problems. The keyboard lags, the battery life is way worse, etc. Yes, some of the problems can be overcome. But in my opinion if you just want a working phone, this "update" is simply not worth your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you factory reset your device after the update? I'm 100% stock, not rooted (although S-OFF) and it lasts well over a day but I always factory reset after every major update

EddyOS said:
Have you factory reset your device after the update? I'm 100% stock, not rooted (although S-OFF) and it lasts well over a day but I always factory reset after every major update
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I did the factory reset. Strangely enough (although perhaps not so strangely) the reset kept the data of old apps. For example, I had some navigation app that downloaded lots of maps. The app is gone, but the maps are still there, even after the reset. They are just a dead weight now, with no way of accessing them - although I'm not sure whether I will be able to access them if I reinstall the app. Same with dictionaries.
The battery life got a bit better lately, perhaps after the Google Services update. But it's still not as good as it was on KitKat.
And finally, shouldn't the update bring improvements? So far we've been talking about issues and how to deal with them. I honestly have not seen any single improvement over KitKat. Perhaps something "under the hood", but then I would expect the phone to be more responsive, not lagging. So looking back, I just don't see what was the point of this update. Maybe with Sense 7 ...

Boot loop and factory image restore

Hi,
I'm writing here as a last hope, after I've tried every possible solution I could find online. Any help here will be very much appreciated.
Couple of days ago I received my fresh Nexus 5X, that I plan to use with Project Fi.
After unlocking the bootloader (with Google Support blessing!) and installing TWRP+SuperSU, I ran into problems, big problems.
Following the Android wizard setup, I connected to the wifi and the phone started downloading an update of ~79Mb.
When rebooted, though, it started TWRP, and it didn't go ahead.
To play safe, I decided to do a factory reset, using the official ROM from Google, replacing also TWRP with the original recovery (I basically did every step in the "flash-all.sh" script).
That didn't work either, and the phone now gets stuck at the boot animation.
I've tried also wiping partitions using both fastboot ("fastboot -w...") and TWRP, but nothing worked.
Another diagnostic symptom.
I've noticed that the recovery (TWRP for sure, the stock one not so much sure) had problems finding the sdcard partition ("unknown volume for path couldn't mount sdcard installation aborted").
Could that be a source of issues?
I thought that it would be possible to do a factory reset, but I'm probably missing something.
At this point, I'm completely lost and I don't know what to do.
Thanks in advance.

Try the flash all script again with latest firmware and let it boot up completely. It will take a while, once booted, flash TWRP and root if you want.

ntropia said:
Hi,
I'm writing here as a last hope, after I've tried every possible solution I could find online. Any help here will be very much appreciated.
Couple of days ago I received my fresh Nexus 5X, that I plan to use with Project Fi.
After unlocking the bootloader (with Google Support blessing!) and installing TWRP+SuperSU, I ran into problems, big problems.
Following the Android wizard setup, I connected to the wifi and the phone started downloading an update of ~79Mb.
When rebooted, though, it started TWRP, and it didn't go ahead.
To play safe, I decided to do a factory reset, using the official ROM from Google, replacing also TWRP with the original recovery (I basically did every step in the "flash-all.sh" script).
That didn't work either, and the phone now gets stuck at the boot animation.
I've tried also wiping partitions using both fastboot ("fastboot -w...") and TWRP, but nothing worked.
Another diagnostic symptom.
I've noticed that the recovery (TWRP for sure, the stock one not so much sure) had problems finding the sdcard partition ("unknown volume for path couldn't mount sdcard installation aborted").
Could that be a source of issues?
I thought that it would be possible to do a factory reset, but I'm probably missing something.
At this point, I'm completely lost and I don't know what to do.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if you need a modified boot.img or kernel since you are rooted .In my experience since Android 5.1.1 you need a custom kernel for root and sometimes a modified boot.img after flashing twrp
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA Free mobile app

androidddaaron said:
I wonder if you need a modified boot.img or kernel since you are rooted .In my experience since Android 5.1.1 you need a custom kernel for root and sometimes a modified boot.img after flashing twrp
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an interesting perspective, actually.
I didn't know that you needed a special image for rooted devices.
Although, I would imagine that's always possible to 'un-root' it, and honestly I was hoping that 'fastboot flash -w...' would have removed any trace of the root.
Is that the case?
Either way, where could I find these modified images?
Thanks a bunch!

Solved
I found the solution which, as it happens when nothing seems to be wrong, was fairly trivial.
Basically, the scripts provided with the stock ROM from Google has problems, and this last command fails:
Code:
fastboot update image-bullhead-mmb29p.zip
saying that system.img is missing.
To fix that, you have to manually extract the content of the files and proceed to flash manually userdata, system, etc...
The problem is that if you don't flash also vendor.img, you're in trouble, and the device will not boot.
Some of the guides that I've found were suggesting that you need to do it for the Nexus 9, and I didn't notice when other guides were mentioning it.
Once you flash the vendor.img, the boot loop is gone.
I'll put it here, I hope it can be helpful to somebody.
Thanks to androidddaaron and k.s.deviate for the support!
(I've thanked also used the thank button near the posts, but if there's more to do, let me know)
Now, back to mess up the Project Fi SIM...

flashed factory image, no android pay

Hi all
so,m basically, i was running the october factory image of android N, everything was great, including android pay, then i got a bit bored so decided to play, and wiped and installed PureNexus and root it, but couldnt work out how to get Magisk working to hide/unhide root, and android pay wouldnt work, so decided for the time being, to just go back to stock. At this point, i went into my platform tools folder (where id extracted the september factory image) and ran the flash-all command, exactly like id done before, booted the phone, all fine, got notified of the october update, downloaded and installed, installed android pay - Android pay cant be used, unable to verify. ive wiped everything, system, cache, data, etc, factory reset, reflashed twice using flash-all no errors. nothing else is different from stock from what i can see, ive not flashed twrp or rooted or anything.
build number is NBD90W
security patch october2016
secure boot enabled
device state unlocked
bootloader BHZ11f
Anyone got any ideas?

Mikey F said:
Hi all
so,m basically, i was running the october factory image of android N, everything was great, including android pay, then i got a bit bored so decided to play, and wiped and installed PureNexus and root it, but couldnt work out how to get Magisk working to hide/unhide root, and android pay wouldnt work, so decided for the time being, to just go back to stock. At this point, i went into my platform tools folder (where id extracted the september factory image) and ran the flash-all command, exactly like id done before, booted the phone, all fine, got notified of the october update, downloaded and installed, installed android pay - Android pay cant be used, unable to verify. ive wiped everything, system, cache, data, etc, factory reset, reflashed twice using flash-all no errors. nothing else is different from stock from what i can see, ive not flashed twrp or rooted or anything.
build number is NBD90W
security patch october2016
secure boot enabled
device state unlocked
bootloader BHZ11f
Anyone got any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to a post in general section, Android Pay no longer works on unlocked bootloader.

OK, thanks, I deliberately haven't installed much, so I assume after flashing the factory image, I could safely relock the bootloader?

Just found this:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.sl...id-pay-19460667/amp/?client=ms-android-google

Mikey F said:
OK, thanks, I deliberately haven't installed much, so I assume after flashing the factory image, I could safely relock the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never done it but if completely stock, supposedly from Fastboot mode you type, fastboot flashing lock. However, people have bricked their phones by relocking the bootloader. To be safe you could use one of the tools they have here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x/general/index-lg-nexus-5x-resources-compilation-t3208297

Tulsadiver said:
Never done it but if completely stock, supposedly from Fastboot mode you type, fastboot flashing lock. However, people have bricked their phones by relocking the bootloader. To be safe you could use one of the tools they have here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x/general/index-lg-nexus-5x-resources-compilation-t3208297
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I'll take a look. Thanks again

Several issues while trying to root pixel c

Hello, I am in need of assistance on rooting/my pixel C device.
I was trying to follow the steps outlined in this webpage: https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-c/general/guide-unlock-bootloader-install-custom-t3307183/page27
The tablet by itself had 8.1 to start out.
The steps I did so far is
1. Successfully unlocked the bootloader (the 30 second boot time and the beeping noise)
2. Installed TWRP
3. Installed superSU via TWRP
4. flashed the AOSP kernel from this link https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-c/development/rom-t3569215
5. Upon system reboot, I noticed two issues:
Issue 1: The apps is pretty empty, including no google play store. I am guessing this was by design, to keep things simple. In addition, I think the original author was saying to install opengapps manually.
Issue 2: Every time I boot to system, I get the message "google connectivity service stopped" error in the beginning (that wording might not be precise). I was able to connect to wifi and bluetooth with no problem, but maybe the connectivity service is responsible for something else, and it is concerning.
6. Another thing I noticed is an issue is when I boot back into TWRP, my internal storage is 0mb. In research it sounds like I need to implement some sort of passcode, as it might be due to the internal storage being encrypted (although I didn't set up any manual encryption myself).
However, when I boot back into system and look, there is no way to set up a screen lock passcode. There is a method to encrpyt the tablet data, but I didn't pursue that, because it projected a long wait time. (If this will indeed fix the problem I will do so)
If I format data through the twrp system, the internal storage comes back.
7. Nonetheless, I was hoping I can still navigate through the system if I just install opengapps. Therefore, I went to opengapps.org, and chose the arm64, 7.1 stock file to download, as this was the default choice it offered (and I couldn't find 8.1- please let me know what the correct one to install is)
8. I then used adb sideload to install the gapps. (As I couldn't access the internal storage)
9. Now, when I try to reboot to system, the TWRP recovery keeps on coming up, every time. Essentially a TWRP bootloop.
My wish is to just get back to the stock 8.1 os with root. Even if I go through a format erase on twrp, the aosp design defaults. Maybe it isn't completely erased?
I have been working days and nights. Maybe it is because I am a novice and a total newb on the pixel C, but looking everywhere it shows similar yet different suggestions, and hasn't been giving me what I am looking for.
Any insight/advice you can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for reading my long post.

I think I found the correct gapps just by a Google search. It is unfortunate that they're not just out there in plain view on the OpenGapps site. So you flashed the 7.1 apps, and did you get an error message while trying to flash them via TWRP?
To be quite honest, I had a lot of difficulty rooting and flashing a ROM on the Pixel C, myself. The process took me a couple days. I really had to play around with the drivers and the SDK...the latest wouldn't install to my computer unless I installed it using Android Studio. Once I finally had everything set up right, which I can't even remember how I had it set up, it worked. One ROM I flashed didn't boot, and the Lineage one did. Now, I'm on Resurrection Remix, my favorite ROM ever! Hope this helps!
---------- Post added at 08:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:03 AM ----------
I found a link for some gapps for you
https://sourceforge.net/projects/unofficial-opengapps-8-1/files/arm64/20180227/

sabrdawg said:
I think I found the correct gapps just by a Google search. It is unfortunate that they're not just out there in plain view on the OpenGapps site. So you flashed the 7.1 apps, and did you get an error message while trying to flash them via TWRP?
To be quite honest, I had a lot of difficulty rooting and flashing a ROM on the Pixel C, myself. The process took me a couple days. I really had to play around with the drivers and the SDK...the latest wouldn't install to my computer unless I installed it using Android Studio. Once I finally had everything set up right, which I can't even remember how I had it set up, it worked. One ROM I flashed didn't boot, and the Lineage one did. Now, I'm on Resurrection Remix, my favorite ROM ever! Hope this helps!
---------- Post added at 08:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:03 AM ----------
I found a link for some gapps for you
https://sourceforge.net/projects/unofficial-opengapps-8-1/files/arm64/20180227/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I have a suggestion for ya, You can either flash your tablet with the stock rom : https://developers.google.com/android/images , change the recovery to twrp and root your system with supersu Or you can install lineage 15.1 (oreo) + opengapps oreo 8.1 + supersu/magisk15 don't forget to change the vendor image and the boot image also if you want to have access on your internal storage on twrp. Hope that it will help you.

Thanks guys. Since this time, I was able to try different things and was able to get things rooted and erased using a combination of twrp and the original stock rom.
However, during this process, the TWRP recovery was overwritten with the stock one, and when I try to re-flash the twrp recovery using adb (at the Fastboot, using command: Fastboot flash recovery twrp.img ), command line just stalls with no progress.
Has anybody else encountered this before? Any way to re-flash the twrp file? thanks in advance.

How Do I Flash Factory Image?

It's been some time since I've done this so I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I've had my Pixel 2 XL for like a month now...but since day one I've gotten occasional force closes of various apps. Well next week I'm going with a new carrier (Koodo here in Canada) and I thought it would be a great time to flash a factory image to make sure everything is correct. Also when does Google release monthly updates? Is it the first week of April, maybe I'll just wait and flash that factory image when it comes out. Thanks for the help.

acheney1990 said:
It's been some time since I've done this so I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I've had my Pixel 2 XL for like a month now...but since day one I've gotten occasional force closes of various apps. Well next week I'm going with a new carrier (Koodo here in Canada) and I thought it would be a great time to flash a factory image to make sure everything is correct. Also when does Google release monthly updates? Is it the first week of April, maybe I'll just wait and flash that factory image when it comes out. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your wanting to flash a factory image, you'll need a few things first.
I would highly recommend that you look over the linked thread carefully. It has many links and tips to help you on your way :good:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-2-xl/how-to/guide-unlock-flash-root-pixel-2-xl-t3702418

acheney1990 said:
It's been some time since I've done this so I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I've had my Pixel 2 XL for like a month now...but since day one I've gotten occasional force closes of various apps. Well next week I'm going with a new carrier (Koodo here in Canada) and I thought it would be a great time to flash a factory image to make sure everything is correct. Also when does Google release monthly updates? Is it the first week of April, maybe I'll just wait and flash that factory image when it comes out. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://developers.google.com/android/images

Make sure you have the latest adb and fastboot. Get them from Google...
Go get the latest image and Unzip it. Do not Unzip the folder inside. Move everything you just unzipped into the folder with adb and fastboot.
Now, if you've unlocked and unlocked critical, great. If you haven't unlocked critical, you'll have to. The system image won't install if the bootloader is out of date. Sadly, this will wipe your data.
If both are already unlocked, then open the flash-all file with a text editor and remove the,"-w" and the space preceding, then save the file. Removing the -w will keep your data. Run the flash-all.bat file and in about 10 minutes everything will be flashed.

back to stock
how to back on stock ....i sell the phone and want all stock...no root no boot loader unlocked ...what is the fastest way pls

lomski said:
how to back on stock ....i sell the phone and want all stock...no root no boot loader unlocked ...what is the fastest way pls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First thing!! Forget fast!! You need to fastboot flash a full factory image with the -w still in the script. Maybe even do it twice. Then go in and do a factory reset from the OS for good measure. Once that is done and you know it reboots you can go through the locking command. I would NOT toggle the OEM switch in dev though.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using XDA Labs

So this has been a a very frustrating experiance but I think I've got everything working again. I don't know how many times I've flashed different factory images and then tried to install TWRP and then install a new custom rom. So I want to explain all of the steps I took (if I remember them all).
0. I couldn't boot into my system but had TWRP installed. At this point I should have tried to get all my data from the sd card via "adb pull /sdcard" .
1. I didn't find any option to fix my system. So I followed this guide to install a factory image (link).
3. I skipped through all of the setup processes and gave my phone wifi. Then I went into the system and did a factory reset.
4. After skipping thourgh the setup again I enabled adb and bootet into the bootloader "adb reboot bootlader"
5. From the bootloader I booted into TWRP by "fastboot boot twrp-3.3.0.0-taimen.img. In the recovery I set the display time out to 300s because for some reason once the phone timed out I could get into twrp any more and the screen stayed black.
6. I transferred the twrp installer and my rom by " adb push TWRP_installer.zip /sdcard/Download" and " adb push ROM.zip /sdcard/Download"
7. I first added the TWRP installer to the flash queue and then I added the rom and then falshed them both. This allowed me to install the rom.
8. For some reason TWRP was not installed. So repeat step 5 and only flash the TWRP_installter.zip
Problems I had:
- In twrp I often got errors that said unable to mount system or vendor. I decided to ignore the error but this thread might help
- Installing TWRP while the stock rom is installed led to the problem that touch didn't work in TWRP
- Entering a pin for the stock rom and then installing TWRP led to TWRP asking for a pin to decrypt my data. Apparently this is not the case if you use a stock image which is older

After flashing stock ROM ota and twrp installer zip the only way to get TWRP to respond to touch is if you disable screen lock and connect to your PC before booting TWRP.
I've found the most reliable way to flash factory images is do it manually with fastboot, latest platform tools installed and a Linux OS like Ubuntu or pop os.
But first do some research and get comfortable with fastboot commands. And dear god don't relock your bootloader unless you're ?% sure it's totally stock.

@schpongo,
Also, a good point to keep when flashing via TWRP is to flash/install ONE AT A TIME. As per the great @Az Biker, you should even reboot to the bootloader after each subsequent flash/install. So, in your case, it seems that you might/should be rebooting to the bootloader three times; one for TWRP installation, one for flashing the custom ROM, and one more for any other subsequent installation (i.e. custom kernel or custom font)...
Also, as it's been said before, but stock kernel doesn't play nice with touch commands on TWRP, and (usually) the only way around it is to reboot into bootloader using the adb command -- as opposed to holding the volume-down button or from an app.
I know you figured this all out already, but it might bear repeating just in case you didn't know and/or to help any other users here...